Real Housewives

This week, The Real Housewives of Dallas get even more real as one 'Wife copes with a major betrayal by a long-time friend and another works to save her floundering marriage. Read on for my full breakdown of all the Texas-sized drama from this week's episode...

Stephanie Hollman is putting aside the drama this week and has hired an interior designer to help redecorate her oldest son's room. Of course, her husband Travis is also gung-ho about giving his input - his mom was an interior decorator so he thinks the talent got passed down in his blood. However, Stephanie is more than a little wary of letting her husband bulldoze over her with his opinions, and the project gives us a little more insight into the dynamic of the couple's marriage. In her confessional, Stephanie explains that not only does Travis have the world's worst taste when it comes to design (exhibit A: the samurai statues out front she's nicknamed Gayle and Oprah), but the fact that he insists on being in control of every little detail doesn't give her very much creative freedom. When Travis starts question her decision to do carpet on carpet, I'm starting to see that those lists of chores from the premiere are actually the least of Stephanie's worries.

Meanwhile, Brandi Redmond heads over to Friend of the Housewives Marie Reyes's house to give another dance lesson to her daughter Sophia. Brandi's still upset with her husband Bryan for showing up drunk and late to the BBQ for her estranged grandfather last week, but goes to Marie's to take her mind off the struggles in her marriage. Plus, Marie's been one of LeeAnne Locken's BFFs for almost 20 years so she's hoping to get some dirt on her nemesis. After going through a toned down, PG-rated routine with Sophia, Brandi sits down with Marie and immediately brings up the blow-up between herself and LeeAnne at last week's cocktail party. The former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader starts off the conversation by calling LeeAnne "batsh-- crazy" and Marie is shockingly quick to jump on the bandwagon and start bashing her friend. Even though she's known the queen bee for two decades, Marie agrees with everything Brandi says about her and pipes in that LeeAnne could benefit from therapy. This about-face seems to come out of the blue on Marie's part, but we'll soon discover that it's been going on longer than anyone could have guessed.

Next is a fun scene of Cary Deuber and her husband Mark going shopping together. Like many viewers, I'm a little bit obsessed with the dynamic between Cary and her plastic surgeon husband, who has most definitely become the most lovable Househusband we've seen in the franchise in years. Mark is planning a photoshoot to update the website for the couple's practice, and figures it's a perfect excuse to buy Cary some new dresses for the occasion. It is for work, after all...My favorite thing about Mark is how much of a fashionista he is inside. (Cary even jokingly refers to him as her "wife.) As the couple walks into a store, Mark can immediately identify a Chanel dress on the rack, and has the magic ability to pick out dresses that will look amazing on Cary sight unseen. As Cary reminds us in her confessional, when it comes to fashion, Mark is always right.

The next day, Brandi drops by Stephanie's house for a chat with her BFF. After bursting into a fit of the giggles over the giant grey and blue decorative balls in Chance's new room, Brandi starts venting about Bryan's behavior at the BBQ. Stephanie takes the moment to apologize for Travis's part in Bryan showing up late and drunk - if she would have known earlier that their husbands were together, she would have made sure Travis got Bryan there on time. However, Brandi points out that the situation was neither Stephanie's nor Travis's fault. It was all on Bryan. There's clearly a lack of communication going on in the Redmond marriage, and Stephanie advises her BFF to go on a date night to talk things out with Bryan. Brandi agrees that this could be a good idea, but admits in her confessional that she's nervous about how her husband will handle the confrontation.

It turns out that Marie has been texting Tiffany Hendra incessantly since the cocktail party, psychoanalyzing LeeAnne and talking badly about her. Naturally, Tiffany goes straight to LeeAnne with this information and the two BFFs head over to Marie's house to confront her together. Tiffany's even printed out copies of all the texts as reunion-style evidence of everything Marie has been saying to her about LeeAnne - from claiming that LeeAnne thinks she's "an expert on everything" and always sees herself as the most important person in the room to asserting that her supposed best friend is "spiritually and emotionally about 14" years old. Ouch. Naturally, LeeAnne is blindsided and hurt by finding out that Marie has been spreading negative opinions about her to Tiffany, and wants to confront Marie head-on about the nasty texts. Tiffany starts out the conversation by saying that it should be clear by now that she doesn't like engaging whenever Marie texts her, seeing that she rarely replies and refuses to feed into all the bashing. When she pulls out the printed messages, it's clear that Marie is in shock - her deer-in-the-headlights expression can only say one thing: "oh sh--."

LeeAnne demands to know why Marie would possibly think it's a good idea to talk about her behind her back to Tiffany, and points out that if the brunette had anything to say, she should've gone LeeAnne herself. Tiffany saw the texts as coming out of nowhere, and questions what Marie's motivation was for sending them, but the Friend of the 'Wives insists that she was merely concerned for LeeAnne's welfare and state of mind. Connecting the dots, however, LeeAnne calls attention to the fact that nearly everything Brandi has had to say about her is also in Marie's texts; there has to be a connection. Yet even as the flashback plays to earlier in the episode where she and Brandi were bashing LeeAnne, a wide-eyed Marie swears Brandi's never said a bad word about the queen bee. In her confessional, Marie defends herself by insisting that LeeAnne's behavior at the cocktail party was indefensible, but LeeAnne angrily explains that she left the party because she felt pushed to her limit with Brandi's attacks and was "pissed as hell!" Clearly caught in a lie, Marie asks how the women can move forward from this, but LeeAnne is so hurt and upset by Marie's betrayal that it seems this friendship may be unsalvageable.

Having bought all the required wardrobe, Cary and Mark use her friend Courtney's high-rise apartment for their photoshoot. As the star of the shoot, Cary admits she doesn't exactly feel comfortable modeling, but Mark is sure that having her in the photos will help the practice stay on-brand. As Mark snaps all the pictures, Cary explains in her interview that photography is basically just one form of foreplay for her husband, and he eventually convinces her to even go topless for a few shots! The practice's tagline of "Boobs by Deubs" has literally never been more true than it is in this moment. At the end of the day, the new pictures turn out exactly how Mark wanted them and Cary looks incredible, even if she thinks her butt needs to be retouched.

Over at the Hollman mansion, Stephanie reveals Chance's new room to the boys and Travis. Chance is overjoyed by the room's Dallas Cowboys theme, and is particularly excited about the cubby hole he can lock his little brother in. More importantly to Stephanie, though, is that Travis approves of all the work she put into the room, and he gives her an enthusiastic two thumbs up on the project. Having gotten her husband's stamp of approval, Stephanie feels relieved and empowered, but also admits in her confessional that the amount of pressure Travis subliminally puts her under is completely unnecessary for her to successfully take care of the boys and run their household. Thankfully, she has Gayle and Oprah the samurai statues to dress up in random costumes when the pressure from Travis gets to be a little too much.

Finally, the episode ends with Brandi and Bryan's date night to Texas de Brazil. After making small talk about his latest business trip, Brandi broaches the subject of how alone she feels when he's not home and tries to tactfully explain that she feels Bryan doesn't give her enough attention. Bryan is taken aback by this revelation - this clearly isn't the date night he was expecting - and as Brandi expresses more and more of her feelings, he gets more and more defensive. Bryan claims that he gives Brandi all the attention in the world yet it's still never enough, and goes as far as to openly mock her when she starts crying. Brandi tearfully asks if she did something wrong, to which Bryan responds with a curt "yes." When she asks him to tell her what she did, Bryan declares that he's done with the conversation, gets up and walks out of the restaurant, leaving a tearful Brandi alone at the table as she watches her marriage crumble before her eyes.

What did you think of this week's episode of RHOD? Are you Team LeeAnne & Tiffany or Team Marie? Do you think there's any hope for Brandi and Bryan's marriage? How much do you love the relationship between Cary and Mark? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below!